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Locals dominate in shot put, relays at Fitch
By Charles grove
AUSTINTOWN
While most of Thursday’s Division II regional action at Austintown Fitch was preliminary events, a few local athletes and teams can already pack their bags for Columbus after qualifying for the state track and field meet.
Newton Falls shot putters Izzy Kline and Kayla Barreca finished first and third in their final, but it wasn’t easy for either. Barreca was in the fifth spot going into her final throw and needed to crack the top four to qualify for state. Her final throw went 39 feet, 9.75 inches to knock Salem’s Helene Shontz out of the fourth spot.
“I went up for my last throw and I told myself, ‘Kayla, calm down. Relax.’ It didn’t go as far as I wanted but hey, I’m going to state and I’m really excited about it,” Barreca said.
Kline, a junior, sprained her ankle earlier in the week and had to wear a brace for competition. But she still won the event with a throw that traveled 42-06.5.
“I got a really bad ankle sprain,” Kline said. “I thought it was broke. Two days ago at practice I jumped up to switch my feet and I heard it crack when I landed.
“I’ve been using this pulse massager that shocks your leg to help. I knew I could still throw 40 [feet] and place but I wanted to win. It feels a little different [throwing with an injury] but 50 percent of it is mental, so no way was I letting that get in my way.”
Moments later, the Salem boys 4x800 relay team finished fourth in their regional final, punching their ticket to state. The team of Quinlan Rumsey, Jackson Corbisello, Trey Double and Josh Andrews were just quicker than fifth-place Jefferson, which crossed the line 0.12 seconds after Salem.
“It’s amazing,” Rumsey said. “I wouldn’t pick a better group of kids to go down there with either.”
The 8:09.51 time beat Salem’s season-best by 12 seconds.
“I’ve never kicked so hard through that much pain,” Quinlan said of his final 100 meters. “I just kept thinking about [my teammates].”
In the final race of the evening, Salem’s 4x400 team of Rumsey, Lex Murray, Connor McKee and Turner Johnson won their preliminary heat, qualifying for Saturday’s final. The Quakers are the top seed and are favored to go to state in this event as well.
“The [4x400] is something we pride ourselves with at Salem,” Murray said. “We want to keep improving as we go.”
When asked if the team would be happy, replicating their winning time of 3:25.05 in Saturday’s final, the answer was an immediate “No.” from everyone involved.
“We want to go faster. By far,” Rumsey said.
Also with an impressive performance was Girard’s Emily Marsico. The senior is seeded third overall in Saturday’s final in both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Marsico said today was all about simply qualifying.
“I had really good preliminary times,” Marsico said. I had a pretty hard workout in the beginning of the week so I’m not as fresh as I could be but I know I’ll come out and perform on Saturday.”
Saturday’s regional finals will take place at Fitch beginning with field events at 11:30 a.m. and track events at 12:30 p.m.